Page 8 - EssexMason (Issue 89)online_version

Provincial

PATHWAY W.Bro. Pierre Waddoups
Provincial Mentor

EMAIL

Having recently been appointed as the new Provincial Grand Mentor, I thought it prudent
to take this opportunity to introduce myself and in the next issue of this, the Essex Mason
magazine, to acquaint you with the Deputy Mentor, the Group Mentors and their Deputies,
all of whom make up the Provincial Mentoring Team.
We are all, wittingly or unwittingly, Mentors, either as that Brother officially appointed as the Lodge
Mentor or as an experienced Mason with knowledge to impart to anyone seeking answers to those
seemingly interminable questions about Freemasonry and Mentoring appears a deceptively easy
task, but for it to be done well and for it to be effective, it requires the Mentor to be well informed
and ideally to have a flair for delivery; to be interesting, to be engaging, personable and certainly
not turgid.
An hour shall be set apart to talk Masonry, such were the terms of a resolution passed by the
Antient Society of Freemasons in the City of York in the year 1725, when it was determined: ‘That
every Wednesday in the month a Lodge shall be held at the house of a Brother according as his turn
shall fall out.’ This regulation of nearly 300 years ago shows that it was evident that the Freemasons of York fully appreciated
the value of Masonic education as distinct from the mechanical repetition of the ceremonies.

Mechanical Repetition of the Ceremonies
It is this ‘mechanical repetition of the ceremonies’: first degree; second degree; third degree; Installation; repeated ad
infinitum or ad nauseum, which is often uninspiring and proving to be challenging to many members and in particular, the
new initiates.

This issue is exacerbated when questions on topics other than the ritual are asked by members, new or experienced and
are continually not being answered. Subjects such as; what are the origins of the Craft or of the Royal Arch? Where does our
ritual come from? What does the symbolism of the Working Tools mean? Etcetera and when questions are constantly not
being addressed, one of three outcomes, it has been shown will occur to those members, they will become; discouraged,
disinterested and ultimately disappear.
The net effect of this situation is that a number of Masons are leaving, disappearing from the Craft, many before they
have received their Grand Lodge Certificates, which impacts on membership of the Royal Arch and subsequently on the
associated Additional Orders too, but just as importantly, the potential enjoyment and that sense of personal fulfilment, is
not being given a chance to flourish and because of this premature departure and those that left Freemasonry, stated in a
survey carried out in Freemasonry Today in 2015, that they did so with ‘a sense of feeling unfulfilled’.
A far reaching remedy to the problem of these early departures and a resolution was desperately needed with a radical
solution being sought, before the matter went from acute to chronic. This solution also needed to address and deal with
that oft quoted and misunderstood phrase ‘to make a daily advancement in Masonic knowledge’ which was clearly missing
the point for many.

The Members Pathway
The answer lay with the launching of The Members’ Pathway in 2017 and the subsequent introduction of the interdependent
Solomon on-line resource, with its concept of a flexible approach to Masonic education in its construct and its delivery:
including an emphasis on the role of Lodge and Chapter Mentor; whose collaboration has in the intervening years, become
paramount, this proved to be the redemption that was needed.
The Members’ Pathway was introduced as ‘a guide to help Lodges attract, introduce and retain members’ and as the Pro
Grand Master, Peter Lowndes also wrote:
‘The future of Freemasonry depends upon being able to introduce and retain committed members
who will contribute to their Lodge and enjoy a lasting membership.’

This initiative comprises a series of 11 Steps, which takes a man who is interested in Freemasonry, but not yet a
member, all the way through a journey to become a committed Master Mason, with Step 8 in the series, begins immediately
after an Initiation and follows the new Freemason as he goes through the Degree ceremonies and experiences elements
of Freemasonry for the first time.

Supporting the New Freemason
Step 8 is the most appropriate and relevant Step for the Lodge Mentor, because this is the point at which the new Freemason
is at his most vulnerable and this is also the stage at which a significant proportion of new members leave and often within
two years of their Initiation.

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